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Lewes aims to finally finalize 2015 comp plan

Resident argues process wasn’t public enough
February 22, 2017

Lewes Mayor and City Council will meet at noon, Thursday, Feb. 23, to discuss final editorial changes to the 2015 comprehensive plan. 

If council approves changes, the document will be sent to Dover for review for what they hope will be the last time. 

But as council nears the end of a multiyear process, one resident says the public wasn’t properly notified and the true feelings of the public are not reflected in the document. 

Resident Rick Quill says two public workshops where information was gathered were lightly attended, and that could only be the result of poor notification. 

Council begs to differ.

“Every single one of the workshops, every single one of the meetings and every single one of the council review sessions were open to the public,” said Councilwoman Bonnie Osler. “Whether people chose to come or not, including [Quill], they were open to the public. It’s been a long, long process.”

Quill has been a watchdog for Lewes council in recent months. He submitted an application last year to rezone the Lewes Ice House property on New Road from industrial to R-4, medium residential. It was later discovered his plan to build affordable duplexes on the property was not allowable under the city’s lot size requirements. Although a public hearing on the matter set for Feb. 28 was canceled at his request, he vowed to continue his fight for rezoning. 

“I believe 100 percent in what we’re going to try to do,” he said. “All I ask for is the dialogue to move this forward and for people to listen. The people to listen are the five [council members].” 

He claims council has continually failed to address affordable/workforce housing in the comp plan. He pointed to a June 22, 2016, meeting where affordable housing was discussed. At the meeting, Deputy Mayor Fred Beaufait said he believes the people of Lewes don’t want affordable housing and that if a developer tried to rezone property to accommodate affordable housing that the people of Lewes would object. 

Rusty Trout, the landowner of the Lewes Ice House, said Beaufait’s comment contradicts statistics in the 2005 comp plan, where a poll found that 58 percent of people surveyed favored housing that provided for a range of household incomes. Another 25 percent were neutral on the topic. 

“That leaves 17 percent opposed to it,” he said. “For those numbers to change over the last 10 years … would you think there would be that much of a flip?”

Beaufait said now is not the time to be making major changes to the plan. He said if Quill wants to suggest changes, he should start with the planning commission. Mayor Ted Becker agreed, saying the city has to submit an annual report to the state regarding the comp plan, and changes can be made then or at the five-year plan update.

“The comp plan is not a closed book set in concrete,” Beaufait said. “If you want to bring up [changes], there is a process. The planning commission should look at it. They make a recommendation and that comes to council.” 

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